Spanish Institutions During the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

The absolutism of the Habsburgs who ceased to reign in Spain in 1700 was followed by the even more authoritarian and centralising stance of the Bourbons, for in this caesaristic attitude Felipe V followed the advice of his grandfather Louis XIV and transplanted French ideas of statecraft to Spain. Of institutions existing at the time of his accession the one that Felipe V made the most use of as an instrument of Bourbon autocracy was the Council of Castile, which was built up and strengthened throughout the eighteenth century as an antidote to regionalism. Practically all the notable statesmen of the period were associated with it, many becoming its president.1